A contract for professional chewing gum removal in the capital will not be renewed this year, Douglas councillors have decided.

A trial one-year contract was established last year with UK cleaning company Task-it Limited. This was for 10 days’ intensive cleaning to improve the most gum blemished areas of Douglas.

But councillors decided at £5,000 per week, the cost was not justifiable, particularly as the machine could not gain access to all areas affected.

Environmental services committee chairman Ritchie McNicholl said: ’We’ve used them twice before, most recently earlier this year. They came over and did the cleaning as requested but we’ve decided it’s not so bad we can’t manage ourselves.’

Councillors were told a report on chewing gum removal, by the council’s senior engineering and waste services manager found the results were effective but a yearly contract was hard to justify. Cleaning will be done by council cleaners and areas monitored for any excessive gum build-up.

Councillor McNicholl told fellow members: ’If the situation becomes so bad, we can just call them back in again to deal with it.’